Over the last 24 hours, the picture has become clearer of the impact of Storm Bert. Across Rhondda Cynon Taf we saw over a month’s worth of rain falling in a very short period. Throughout Sunday morning, our contact centre took nearly 600 calls from residents reporting issues.
Initial suggestions of 300 properties flooded have been revised to potentially 200 impacted. The Council is working to confirm properties that have had internal flooding, and we have a number of teams on the ground to support residents and recovery actions.
Staff from our community resilience team have been deployed to speak with residents and understand their needs so we can provide them with the support they require immediately and in the near future. Further support for residents will be announced very soon, including details of financial support.
We have deployed skips to areas which have seen flooding, these will allow impacted residents to dispose of damaged items. The Council will arrange collection of these as and when required.
Our Flood Risk team are already out inspecting areas where flooding has occurred to better understand how different flooding incidents have occurred and why.
The Council took preparatory steps since last Thursday, ensuring all available resources were available, in anticipation of Storm Bert becoming a major weather event. This included cleaning and inspecting drains and culverts, ensuring all our monitoring equipment was working and responding to reports from residents. Crews also worked throughout to support residents, with many working double shifts or cancelling leave to help support.
Since Storm Dennis, a huge amount of work has been undertaken by the Council to improve culverts and drainage systems, and although some of these were overwhelmed, where significant investment has been made we have seen many properties protected or the impact lessened.
However, river flooding was a significant factor in Storm Bert with river levels in some areas rising higher than in Storm Dennis.
Officers are out inspecting highways and infrastructure, with emergency highways works already being undertaken, such as on the A4059 in Mountain Ash. People if travelling should be aware that emergency works may be required at short notice so disruption should be expected. The Pipe Feeder Footbridge at Abercynon, which was being replaced after damage in Storm Dennis was washed away by the river surge and the impact of this is currently being assessed.
Bridgend County Borough Council has informed us that the Bwlch Mountain Road to Nantymoel, Bridgend will require further works to secure the ground above the highway, while the embankments will need to be assessed by engineers before the road can reopen. Therefore, the Local Authority has indicated that the closure is likely to remain in place until at least tomorrow – Tuesday, November 26.
Ynysangaharad War Memorial Park remains closed today and tomorrow at least while we assess damage and clear debris, we will provide a further update on reopening tomorrow. Lido Ponty has been damaged, and work is underway to clean and repair the facility.
Posted on 25/11/2024